Transparency is frequently used in product innovations for its special visual impacts and unique characteristic of providing more information. Providing effective information is crucial for consumers’ adoptions of product innovations. Yet, how the information provided through transparency influences consumer response has not been investigated so far. This study aims to fill in this gap by investigating the application of transparency in product innovations from designers’ and consumers’ perspectives. Through in-depth interviews with experienced designers (N=6), five design intentions of using transparency in product innovations are identified: influence look and feel, communicate information regarding product operations, demonstrate technology, show working process, and influence consumer experience. To validate these findings and explore consumer response, in-depth consumer interviews were conducted (N=13). Results revealed that these design intentions are fulfilled. Moreover, consumers mentioned more specific experience triggered by transparency: a sense of achievement, engagement, control, relief and discomfort.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/The following publication Cheng and Mugge (2016). The Value of Transparency for Designing Product Innovations. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27-30 June 2016 is available at http://www.drs2016.org/034/

Page view(s)

Google ScholarTM

Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

The Library actively supports the
University’s mission by providing integrated and timely access to high
quality scholarly resources, an inspiring environment for intellectual
growth and discovery, with responsive and outreaching services...
[read more ]